Time stamps
02.03 Darlings
07.23 Delhi Crime Season 1 & 2
17.23 Three of Us
26.13 Juice
30.28 Human
36.24 Monsoon Wedding
On the morning of the shoot of the finale of the first ‘season’ of our video series, Role Play With…, Shefali Shah is at her office in Andheri West, Mumbai. Hair and make-up began around 9 a.m. But preparation for her look had started the previous evening, when our stylist went over to the actor’s apartment to select clothes. Two benign huskies, Ash and Simba, watched as Shah’s bedroom, decorated in muted shades, turned into a landscape of strewn clothes. At the end of the exercise, two outfits in black combined with white and blue were shortlisted.
Neither of these however made it into the next morning. Shah’s manager announced that the actor had decided to wear this black shirt and this black pair of trousers from her own wardrobe. Given the demands of our visual frame of the video shoot and the fact that she would be seated throughout, Shah had made a sensible choice — a comfortable jet-black ensemble. In the process, we learned that the actor is as no-nonsense and decisive off screen as she is in some of her most vaunted roles.
Like many actors, Shah has been enjoying a mid-career bolt of success, spurred by the opportunities proffered by streaming platforms. (Jaideep Ahlawat, who took the chair in the previous ‘episode’ of Role Play With… — and who has acted alongside Shah — is similarly basking in a golden moment.)
For the 52-year-old Shah, it’s a long way from the Gujarati stage, where she wet her feet as a young actor. And with the power of hindsight, she regrets that she was naïve as a newcomer to the film industry. Not being particularly ambitious, she took up television roles or any bit parts in films that came her way instead of actively seeking good work. Her first notable cinematic undertaking was a small, yet vibrant, part in Satya (1998). In fact, her turn as Pyaari Mhatre caught the eye of Mira Nair, who cast her in the award-winning Monsoon Wedding (2001).
Being on the set of Monsoon Wedding with veterans such as Naseeruddin Shah and Kulbhushan Kharbanda was a little like going to acting school, she remembers. “One of the things that I learned very early, and it was all thanks to Monsoon Wedding, was that every moment and every scene or moment on celluloid is not about you,” she says. “You have to be able to turn yourself into furniture and disappear into the background when the need arises.”
The act of disappearing is Shah’s greatest pleasure. “I’d always choose to be recognised as a character rather than an actor, because then I’ve done what I set out to do — to become believable, which is the most important thing for any actor.” But, she adds modestly, “Once the camera starts rolling, I don’t know what I do. It just happens. And I genuinely believe that, sometimes, out of mistakes, magic happens.”
As she moved ahead in her career, Shah grew more selective about her roles. After the success of Dil Dhadakne Do (2015), in which she plays an industrialist’s wife who keeps the facade of a happy marriage intact, she turned down movies such as Neerja (2016) and Kapoor & Sons (2016), wanting more than a supporting act. Gone was the accommodating streak of her younger self; this Shah had the grit to tide over the frustrating wait for a solid role. “I soon realised that the kind of work I want to do isn’t going to come every day. It used to bother me — that I’m getting appreciated, but it’s not translating into more work or the kind of work that I want to do.”
Her patient wait was rewarded with the central role in Delhi Crime (2019). In the career-defining show, Shah delivers a nuanced performance as a tough-yet-vulnerable cop, Vartika Chaturvedi, leading a hunt for six rapists. She tells us that she became obsessed with Chaturvedi’s character, so much so that when she wore the uniform, she walked differently, she stood straighter…. She says, “I love her. She is amazing. She’s a rock star.”
From her acting choices, it’s clear that the more challenging the role, the better she likes it. In Three of Us (2022), Shah plays Shailaja Desai, a woman suffering from dementia. It was refreshing, Shah intones, to play the part of a woman who is fragile, not in complete control of her circumstances. “Because of the characters I have played, there is this image that I am a strong woman,” she explains. “It’s amazing for women to be strong, but I also feel there is great beauty in vulnerability.”
The same year saw the release of Shah’s two other outings that made very different demands of her. She worked with Alia Bhatt in Darlings (2022), a darkly comic story that hinges on the relationship between a mother and daughter. Shah recalls that working with Bhatt was a riot; their jams were full of fun and laughter. And that light-heartedness and camaraderie comes through on screen.
And in the medical thriller series Human (2022), she once again showed her skill in shaping a character. Beyond executing the vision of directors Mozez Singh and Vipul Shah (her husband), the performer offered an insight into the character of the villainous protagonist. She told the directors: “I want the character [Dr Gauri Nath] to have Lady Diana’s body and demeanour, with the Joker’s mind.”
Like Shailaja Desai, Dr Gauri Nath, the Machiavellian and manipulative lead of Human, presents a significant departure from the characters Shah has played so far. She’s the kind of person who will go to any lengths to get what she wants, including getting intimate with a protegee even though she’s not a lesbian. And Shah had a blast playing the “delicious”, witchy doctor, Nath.
Which character resembles Shah most of all, we ask her. The surprising answer is Shamshunissa “Shamshu” Ansari of Darlings. Shah identifies most with the wicked, funny and fun-loving Shamshu, who is, like her, also fiercely protective of her offspring.
It’s obvious that Shah loves playing rebels and boundary-breaking feminists. Vartika Chaturvedi, Shamshunissa Ansari and Ria Verma are all defiant and wilful in their own way. Another one of Shah’s memorable rebels is the homemaker Manju Singh in Neeraj Ghaywan’s short film Juice (2017). The end of the film portrays a terrific act of mutiny. Shah tells us that after seeing Juice, a 24-year-old male fan put up a comment on Twitter, that was an apt compliment: “Till today, I’d heard that a mom’s cooking is full of love. I have now found out how much anger it holds.” It’s one of Shah’s favourite films and knowing her fondness for thrifty performance, you can see why. Without saying a word or indulging in any drama, she communicates the ritual humiliation the average Indian homemaker experiences before quietly, powerfully erupting.
A couple of years ago, Shah turned 50. Touching upon the milestone, Shah reflects that she could have done so much more in her career. Her own vulnerability is apparent when she tells us with honesty and more than a tinge of regret, “I genuinely wish I had more time. It’s not that I want to be 18 and jump around trees or dance. I just love the characters I play. I love the art of acting and being able to create these people. But, I wish the recognition had come earlier!” Honestly, so do we.